'Kolkata has the strongest team'

Former cricketer-turned- politician Navjot Singh Sidhu believes Kolkata's and Chennai IPL teams are the most balanced and strong teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"Shah Rukh's and the Chennai team is the strongest if we compare the players on the paper. But I will put my money on the Mohali team to hold the championship trophy as I am a Punjabi," Sidhu told reporters in the Capital on Monday.

Speaking at the launch of a reality show on a television channel, he said, IPl was a revolution and it had taken the world by storm and was for the betterment of players.

"It (IPL) will change the face of the world cricket. No one would have imagined that so many runs could be scored in a 40 over game. Nowadays, nobody wants to sit and watch cricket for five days. Mr Pawar is like (Formula One driver Michael) Schumacher who has taken the cricket in a fast lane."

"Look at players like Pankaj Dharmani who is getting Rs 50 lakhs a year. I used to get Rs 4,000 to play a Ranji match," said Sidhu, the Member of Parliament from Amritsar.

Asked about the future of Indian Cricket League after the launch of IPL, he said, "ICL ka to band baj gaya (ICL has been ruined completely.)"

But he cautioned that Twenty20 might lose viewer's interest after some time with the launch of similar tournaments in future.

"T20 is like a maggy sauce. Each season it has different flavour. It's a grand success and people are liking it because it is the first edition but may be after some point of time they will start losing interest with the coming of many tournaments like IPL," he said.